Sitting in a metabolic chamber in Coventry having everything from my intake of food and air to my activity, blood and urine monitored gives me plenty of time to take a look back at this year’s running, and have a glimpse at what next year might hold.
Last year finished with a 100 miler (Autumn 100, 18hrs43) , the same race which I returned to just this weekend but supporting this year. Being in and around the race made me really miss trail running, and want to get back out there.
After that was a sharp change to preparing for the final selection stage for SPEAR17, the Antarctica expedition. 2 weeks in Norway later and a fair amount of pulk-hauling under my belt, I came back to a series of small events on the weekends to keep me running whilst tackling the last few months of med school:
After finals I went off for a month of relaxing and running in the mountains, getting in some well overdue time in the hills, a peaceful way of life.
I came straight back from the Alps to race in the Lake District at the last race of the season. Racing in the mountains isn’t usually my forte, but I was excited heading into it after a few weeks of hills.
I was very pleased with that race, I finally felt like I could run again.
I figured 4 months was going to be just enough time to prepare specifically for the Traverse attempt, so I stopped running/racing after that race and switched to more strength training and putting on weight.
I’m now in no shape for running far and fast, but good shape for the expedition.
Next stop, Antarctica.